Bollywood underrates me: Arunoday Singh

Actor Arunoday Singh, who has been a part of the Hindi film industry since 2009, feels his talent is under-utilised, and says Bollywood underrates him.

Arunoday made his acting debut with "Sikandar" and later featured in films like "Yeh Saali Zindagi", "Mirch", Aisha", "Jism 2", "Main Tera Hero" and "Mohenjo Daro". He says it's very difficult to get films in which he plays the lead because he is not "wildly famous".

In a career spanning nine years, why has he done only handful of films, Arunoday told IANS over phone from Mumbai: "I am a good actor but I am not wildly famous. It's very difficult to get films based on lead roles because I haven't earned that level of box office success and that's how it should be.

"These things are about business after all. So, I get limited number of options available to me in terms of roles."

The actor, 35, feels his brawny built restricts him too.

"I am also very large, so I can't be cast in everything. I am just little on the large side. So, I know that limits me a little as well. So, of all the roles I get considered for and audition for, I try to choose the best I can. I try the best with the films I get," he added.

Does he feel like an under-utilised talent in Bollywood?

"I have not fully been utilised, that's true... But I don't think I have fully understood what I am capable of either. It's a limitation. Bollywood underrates me and I underrate myself.

"So, one day we would get over it together," added the actor, whose latest big screen outing, Irrfan Khan starrer "Blackmail", has brought him a lot of attention.

But he says it was never a conscious choice to do genres of films as different as chalk and cheese.

"If it was a conscious choice, then it has failed because I got slotted anyway. But it was not a conscious choice. I just like doing different things. It appeals to me or the part appeals to me," he said.

Apart from featuring in films, Arunoday also has a keen interest in writing poetry. The "Love per Square Foot" actor keeps updating his Instagram post with poetry penned by him.

Has he thought about publish a book of his poetry?

"I have many books of poetry waiting for a publisher brave enough to publish it. I met a few people, but the meetings were not really positive so... 'Dil dukh jaata hai (it breaks your heart)'.

"So, you just give up saying maybe you are not good enough and you keep working at it and keep getting better. So, now I think I am okay enough to be published," he said.